Sundance Shorts; First Look Webisodes and Park City Summitby Eugene Hernandez and Maud Kersnowski/indieWIRE>> Sundance Sports Diverse Lineup of Shorts With a Few Familiar Names(indieWIRE/ 12.11.00) -- 64 short films will screen at Sundance 2001,selected from the 2,174 entries received this year. The Festival saw a 20%increase in submissions last year, due to increasing use of digitalproduction equipment, and this year submissions grew another 10%.At Sundance 2000, the short film was in the spotlight thanks to theexplosion of dotcom companies building their businesses around shortcontent. This year, with fewer players in the space and less money in thedotcom entertainment business, there may be less sites vying for film rights,but interest in shorts has hardly waned.A pair of shorts that will undoubtedly be of interest are two that are alsoset to debut on IFILM soon. The site's director of programming, JesseJacobs, singled out Elyse Couvillion's "Sweet" and Leif Tilden's "BigLove," both from accomplished digital production company, The Orphanage. "Big Love" is notable as the first in North America to shoot with the groundbreaking new Sony/Panavision "System EC" -- an HD 24 frame progressive scan digital camera. Meanwhile, Elyse Couvillion's "Sweet" was shot by acclaimedcinematographer Allen Daviau.Andy Berman's "Bit Players," another Sundance 2001 short, is currentlystreaming on IFILM in the sites IFILMPro area. The director is also knownas an actor who has appeared on "The Wonder Years" and other TV shows.James Cunningham's "Infection" is another standout, having screened at thisyear's Cannes Film Festival. While producer Lianna Creel, from IgniteEntertainment, will be at Sundance with "Offside." Another notable entry isPaul Harrill's "Gina, An Actress, Age 29," the first Aperture Short FilmGrant recipient to gain acceptance by the Sundance Festival.Among the filmmakers returning to Sundance are Jason Reitman with "Gulp," Ari Gold with "Helicopter," Jay Rosenblatt with "Nine Lives (The Eternal Moment of Now)," and "Pie Fight 69" by Christian Bruno and Sam Green.Likening this year's shorts lineup "a melting pot,"in a prepared statement,programmer Trevor Groth singled out a "diversity of nationalitiesrepresented," including shorts made in America by filmmakers from the CzechRepublic, Greece, Korea, Poland, Russia, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.Groth, who was unavailable for a conversation about the lineup, added in aprepared statement, "Short films provide a broader depiction of our culturethan features, due to the financial feasibility of them." [Eugene Hernandez]GET THE COMPLETE SUNDANCE SHORTS LINEUP @ indieWIRE.com:http://www.indiewire.com/biz/biz_001208_briefs.html

(indieWIRE/ 12.11.00) -- 64 short films will screen at Sundance 2001,selected from the 2,174 entries received this year. The Festival saw a 20%increase in submissions last year, due to increasing use of digitalproduction equipment, and this year submissions grew another 10%.

At Sundance 2000, the short film was in the spotlight thanks to theexplosion of dotcom companies building their businesses around shortcontent. This year, with fewer players in the space and less money in thedotcom entertainment business, there may be less sites vying for film rights,but interest in shorts has hardly waned.

A pair of shorts that will undoubtedly be of interest are two that are alsoset to debut on IFILM soon. The site's director of programming, JesseJacobs, singled out Elyse Couvillion's "Sweet" and Leif Tilden's "BigLove," both from accomplished digital production company, The Orphanage. "Big Love" is notable as the first in North America to shoot with the groundbreaking new Sony/Panavision "System EC" -- an HD 24 frame progressive scan digital camera. Meanwhile, Elyse Couvillion's "Sweet" was shot by acclaimedcinematographer Allen Daviau.

Andy Berman's "Bit Players," another Sundance 2001 short, is currentlystreaming on IFILM in the sites IFILMPro area. The director is also knownas an actor who has appeared on "The Wonder Years" and other TV shows.

James Cunningham's "Infection" is another standout, having screened at thisyear's Cannes Film Festival. While producer Lianna Creel, from IgniteEntertainment, will be at Sundance with "Offside." Another notable entry isPaul Harrill's "Gina, An Actress, Age 29," the first Aperture Short FilmGrant recipient to gain acceptance by the Sundance Festival.

Among the filmmakers returning to Sundance are Jason Reitman with "Gulp," Ari Gold with "Helicopter," Jay Rosenblatt with "Nine Lives (The Eternal Moment of Now)," and "Pie Fight 69" by Christian Bruno and Sam Green.

Likening this year's shorts lineup "a melting pot,"in a prepared statement,programmer Trevor Groth singled out a "diversity of nationalitiesrepresented," including shorts made in America by filmmakers from the CzechRepublic, Greece, Korea, Poland, Russia, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.Groth, who was unavailable for a conversation about the lineup, added in aprepared statement, "Short films provide a broader depiction of our culturethan features, due to the financial feasibility of them." [Eugene Hernandez]

(indieWIRE/ 12.11.00) -- Indie distributor, First Look Pictures, is linkingforces with multimedia service provider, Electronic Global BroadcastingSystem (EGBS), to launch an online entertainment venture. The initialoffering will be an episodic, live-action, comedy about an Internetstart-up, premiering early next year.

First Look and EGBS plan to produce a number of highly interactive showswhere viewers can choose to follow the story lines of different characters,read their email and hear their thoughts. Each show will release 30 to 60minutes of content a week, in three to eight minute pieces.

The collaborators hope to create a partnership that allows First Look andEBGS to bring their strengths to the table, entertainment and technologyrespectively. "A lot of technology companies try to create content, but it'sless than compelling," observed Randy Lippert, First Look InteractivePresident and co-creator of the 11 character web-show. "And the studiosaren't creating very good technology."

First Look Pictures is the U.S. division of Overseas Filmgroup ("Titus,""Map of the World"). Because the new Internet partnership is folded intolarger companies it is under less pressure than stand alone start-ups toproduce a profit.

"There will be no banner ads," Lippert says. Instead the revenue model isbased on one of the most successful forms of advertising on the web, productplacement. Advertisers will pay for their brands to be an integral to theplot. "The dictum is not to lose money," Lippert comments.[Maud Kersnowski]

>> Alterna-Dances to Join Forces for Park City Summit

(indieWIRE/ 12.11.00) -- Dubbed the Festival Summit, Park City will see aparty concluding a week of events that have grown as alternatives to theannual Sundance Film Festival. Digidance, Lapdance, Nodance, Slamdance, Slamdunk and TromaDance will team up for the party on January 26th in Utah as a way of dampering any competitiveness among the Festivals, according to an announcement distributed by Slamdance on Friday.

Commenting in a prepared statement that the alternative Festivals have"formed a community" over the years, Festival Summit Coordinator AndreaClark indicated that the idea for such a gathering grew over the last fewyears. Each alternative fest will receive tickets to the closing party,according to the announcement, while the specific details of the event willbe announced at a later date.

Additionally, under the title "Wasatch Festival Syndicate," the alternativefestivals will distribute a newsletter with schedules for each event, offera webpage linking to all participating festival sites and also conduct apanel discussion with reps from all of the alternative Festivals. Theannouncement encouraged other alternative Festivals to contact organizerAndrea Clark to join the coalition.

In recent years, Park City's Main St. has become the main drag for acarnival of festivals and filmmakers aimed at showcasing work left behind bySundance. Along the way, Slamdance, now in its 7th year, has establisheditself as the leading alternative venue, gaining increasing numbers ofsubmissions and sizable industry audiences.

Commenting on the announcement in a prepared statement, Troma's LloydKaufman said, "TromaDance is proud to be a part of this league of people'sfilm festivals. We pledge to work very hard to give art back to the people."[Eugene Hernandez]

>> CORRECTIONS: 2001 Sundance Lineups

indieWIRE readers accepted to the Sundance Film Festival have sent in a fewcorrections to the lineups provided by the Festival. Bridget Bedard's shortfilm, "Baby," is not a U.K. film, while W.I.Z.'s short of the same name is.The correct spelling of the director of "Sweet" is Elyse Couvillion. Theshort film "Metropopular" was directed by Jonah Hall. And finally, Eugene Martin's "Diary of a City Priest" is an adaptation of a journal by a priest named John P. McNamee. Thanks for the corrections. [Eugene Hernandez]